NSW heroes Mitchell Pearce, David Klemmer and Daniel Saifiti and Queensland's Tim Glasby returned to Newcastle on Thursday but were rested from the captain's run training session in the early afternoon.

Brown said all four were "very sore" but uninjured, so he faces a tough call on Friday whether to omit them from a game that could potentially springboard the Knights from sixth on the points table to fourth.

Newcastle produced a committed effort in the absence of their Origin representatives last week, losing 24-20 at home to the Warriors, but Brown felt "one of two" of his team were not quite on their game.

"The thing is when you lose that number of players out of our starting pack, you can't afford to carry anyone," he said.

"We need 17 contributors."

With nine regular-season games remaining, Brown said he is "not ladder watching yet" but acknowledged that pressure is mounting on a host of sides jostling for positions in the play-offs.

"There's a lot of teams at the moment that I would have thought would be fancying themselves, if they had a good run, of making the top four," he said.

"But in among those teams that are looking at a top-four position, three or four losses and they won't be making the eight.

"That's how tight the competition is. So for us, every week is very important. This week is obviously of huge importance, especially coming off a loss last week, and we are at home as well."

Brown was optimistic that by next week, he would have close to a full complement of players available for selection, other than back-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon (dislocated elbow) and winger Edrick Lee (broken arm).

"Hopefully after this week, we can get a couple back from injury and suspension, and get the Origin boys back and start to build some momentum for the back end of the year," he said.

Brown was disappointed with refereeing inconsistencies in last week's loss but has spent the week reminding his players to be disciplined.

"There's an area of our penalties - ball strips and standing in front of the referee - that we need to control better," he said.